Digital journalism came under the microscope at this year’s news:rewired event at Thompson Reuters, where tech-heads from CNN, Facebook and The Times among others revealed what the future holds for communicators.
And while the event was geared towards journalism, there were some great take-outs for internal communicators. Some of the highlights included:
Virtual reality
News buffs from Coventry University and the Coventry Telegraph teamed up to work on an extended piece of storytelling around the Coventry Blitz. Using the Telegraph’s archive of photos, features and 360-degree video, users can ‘play the news’ to learn more about the history of the city during the Second World War. VR is being touted as the ‘ultimate empathy machine’, and it certainly offers a unique take on the news, as well as something that could be employed by internal communicators.
Facebook Watch
“A first attempt at ‘intentional viewing’ on Facebook,’ says Rich Evans, strategic partnership manager from the social media giant. Watch – currently being trialled in the US – is a new personalised platform for video, organised around your interests, and your contacts’ interests. Facebook is also working on ‘Watch parties’, which encourage friends (or for internal comms – workforces) to log in, watch the same thing at the same time, and interact with each other throughout.
CrowdTangle
A straightforward way of keeping up with what’s happening on social media and sourcing bespoke content. Subscribers get a real-time, personalised view of multiple social media channels and CrowdTangle helps pull hidden but influential stories to the forefront (“Putting rocket boosters on your content,” is how James Morgan at CrowdTangle describes it). Particularly useful for hyper-local content gathering and finding stories lost in the ruckus.
Mobile-first reporting
Marc Settle, from the BBC Academy, ran through a dozen filmmaking apps in a dozen minutes. Some of the best include:
FILMIC PRO – one of the most advanced video cameras for mobile, shooting up to 60 frames per second and offering a host of advanced features for top-quality video.
LUMA FUSION – an editing platform that lets users line up multiple video and audio tracks at once. You can also play with the format so they can be viewed landscape, portrait, or in Instagram-friendly square.
FONTISE – annoy your studio team and ignore your brand guidelines and create your own font. It’s a good way to personalise content by pasting on to video.
